If you ever fantasized about Shakira and Michael McDonald duetting on a cover of “The Golden Girls” theme song, then look no further than Christina Aguilera and Jimmy Fallon on Monday’s “Tonight Show.”

The “Voice” coach joined Fallon for a round of “Wheel of Musical Impressions,” proving that her imitation skills have only increased in strength since stunning the world 11 years ago with her spot-on Kim Cattrall impersonation on “Saturday Night Live.” In addition to Shakira, Aguilera flawlessly channeled her “Burlesque” co-star Cher and, in the evening’s most impressive moment, her onetime rival Britney Spears. Read More »

What’s been your favorite music video of 2014? According to YouTube, the Internet fell in love with Katy Perry‘s ”Dark Horse,” featuring Juicy J, which earned the top spot on the video-sharing site’s list of most-watched videos from the past year. The site tallied the number of times the video was viewed from the day it was uploaded through November 30. “Dark Horse” won by a landslide, garnering over 703 million views since it was uploaded on February 20. And there’s clearly something behind Perry’s dance-pop sound and popularity – eight of the 10 top videos were from female pop artists (including two from Shakira!).

Click through to see the top 10 list and watch the videos. Read More »

Germany defeated Argentina 1 – 0 to take home the World Cup title for the second time in a quarter century. Millions of people gathered at bars or huddled around televisions at homes and restaurants across the world to watch the spirited game.

That’s one of the tricky cultural questions marketers behind Pitbull’s new World Cup song are grappling with as they try to engineer a “pan latin” global mega-hit, writes Reed Johnson in this week’s Arena section. The project’s sponsors, SONY Music Entertainment and FIFA, are hoping to repeat the raging success of past World Cup songs like Shakira’s impossibly catchy “Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)” and Ricky Martin’s “The Cup of Life.” But it’s no easy task—and in the 52 years since the first World Cup song was named, only a handful have become worldwide hits. Here are some of the top performers. Read More »

The Catalonia region’s rivalry with Spain’s central government is one of Europe’s oldest blood feuds—with money, nationalism and historic grudges all in play.

Now there’s a volatile new element: Shakira.

Just as Catalans are girding for a referendum late this year on breaking away from Spain, the mega-star has triggered a dustup in Spain and endured vicious Twitter attacks by recording a version of one song on her new, self-titled album in the Catalan language. Read More »

Shakira‘s steamy new video “Can’t Remember to Forget You” featuring Rihanna came out on Thursday evening and it’s already racked up around 4 million viewers.

The release has a bit of an island flavor and features the two superstar singers rolling around on a bed, grinding hips into walls, and caressing one another suggestively–which pretty much explains about 3.9 million of those 4 million or so views so far. The two women are also seen smoking cigars.

The video for the song, which is from Shakira’s coming self-titled album, was directed by Joseph Kahn, who has directed clips for Eminem, Britney Spears and others.

What do you think of the new video? Leave your thoughts in the comments. Read More »

Justin Timberlake didn’t perform at the Grammy Awards last night. Neither did the Band Perry, Janelle Monae, Prince Royce or Shakira. Nevertheless, these stars had a huge presence during the telecast thanks to an advertising blitz by Target, which flaunted the retailer’s many music partnerships and perhaps reminded some viewers that it still has compact discs for sale.

A total of eight Target commercials aired during the three-hour broadcast, giving roughly 30 million viewers plenty of openings to make cracks on Twitter about the company’s recent credit card breach. Other commenters speculated that Target was reasserting its clout in response to a different debacle: the exclusive release of Beyonce‘s most recent album on iTunes. Following that pre-Christmas surprise, Target retaliated by refusing to carry the CD version of Beyonce’s album. Read More »

Singers Shakira and Rihanna unveiled the cover of their new single, “Can’t Remember to Forget You,” on Instagram yesterday. The move is a part of trend among pop-stars to bypass more traditional marketing and advertising channels by using social media to directly connect with fans.

The top five performers on “The Voice” all made visits home on tonight’s show.

Two of those acts will be going home for good–a pair of singers will be axed this week.

Each singer sang twice; most labored to deliver two worthwhile performances.

The Swon Brothers sang the 1973 Bob Seger song “Turn the Page.” They returned to sing the laid-back Kenny Loggins number “Danny’s Song.”

Tim McGraw popped up via video to wish Danielle Bradbery luck in singing “Please Remember Me” (by Rodney Crowell and Will Jennings), a song he’s covered. Bradbery’s version got a standing ovation from her coach, Blake Shelton, at least. She returned to sing “Who I Am,” a 2000 song popularized by Jessica Andrews. Read More »

Two weeks ago, actress and singer Patti LuPone grabbed a cell phone out of the hand of an audience member who was texting during a performance of her current play, "Shows for Days." The bold move led to an outpouring of support from fans fed up with glowing screens. Ms. LuPone gives us her five rules of theater etiquette.